| Islamic World News | |
| 25 Mar 2010, NewAgeIslam.Com |
| Blasphemy laws haunt Muslims in Pakistan | ||
India to write to U.S. for access to David Headley
 Qaeda implants boob bombs
Karzai for more Chinese support
Jihad only way to liberate Kashmir, says Lashkar and Jaish
Hamas welcomes British move
Militants' worst foe may be Somalians on street
Israel confirms more Jerusalem buildings
Terror groups to step up war against India
Hakimullah may be alive, says Malik
Pak forces kill 23 militants in tribal area
Hasina ‘poison’ row: Opp MP sues ex-Prez
Canada passes law regarding Muslim veil
Pak continues to support some terror groups: US official
UK expels Israeli envoy over Dubai case
No U-turn by US on access to Headley: Chidambaram
Britain ropes in Pak paper to fight terror
Locals pelt, slash Afghan suicide bomber to death
On TV, veiled woman spews verse at clerics
Migrant workers exploited and abused in Malaysia: Amnesty
Minimum age for marriage urged
113 terror suspects arrested in Kingdom
Israel approves more housing in East Jerusalem
Afghan-Iranian mountain trails reveal hidden weapons smuggling route
Women in Yemen rally in support of a child bride law
U.S. Muslims Denounce Human Rights Violations in Bangladesh
Bin Laden's daughter released from Iran, in Syria
Compiled by Akshay Kumar Ojha
Photo: David Coleman Headley
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India to write to U.S. for access to David Headley
25 March 2010
New Delhi: Overlooking the U.S. envoy's remarks here that no decision was taken on giving Indian investigators direct access to David Headley, India on Wednesday said it would soon write to the U.S. for interrogating the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist.
The Home Ministry will soon get in touch with the U.S. Department of Justice seeking a date for having direct access to Headley, now under American custody, top government sources said.
The decision comes on the heels of the government stating that it was not taking cognizance of the clarification issued by U.S. Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer that no decision had been taken and the U.S. had yet to work out how India would be given access.
In its communication, likely to be finalised in the next few days by Home Minister P. Chidambaram and top officials, the Ministry will tell the American authorities that a team of Indian investigators is ready and can visit the U.S. once a confirmation is given.
The sources said the National Investigation Agency, probing the case, will file the charge sheet against the 49-year-old terrorist only after getting direct access to him. Headley has admitted to plotting the November, 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
According to American law, the U.S. Department of Justice will have to take permission from the Chicago court which is hearing Headley's case, about India's request to have direct access to him. — PTI
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/25/stories/2010032565632000.htm
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Qaeda implants boob bombs
25 March 2010
London, March 24: Al Qaeda is laying deadly “booby traps” by equipping its female suicide bombers with explosive breast implants that are impossible to detect at airport security checkpoints, the British intelligence agency MI5 has claimed.
“Women suicide bombers recruited by Al Qaeda are known to have had the explosives inserted in their breasts under techniques similar to breast enhancing surgery,” the Sun quoted terrorist expert Joseph Farah as saying. The lethal explosives, called PETN, are inserted inside plastic shapes during the operation, before the breast is sewn up, he added.
According to MI5, Al Qaeda doctors have been trained at some of Britain’s leading teaching hospitals before returning to their own countries to perform the surgical procedures. MI5 has also discovered that extremists are inserting the explosives into the buttocks of some male suicide bombers.
http://www.asianage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6716:qaeda-implants-boob-bombs&catid=34:top-story&Itemid=59
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Blasphemy laws haunt majority community in Pakistan
Anita Joshua
ISLAMABAD: The blasphemy laws have come to haunt the majority community in Pakistan with rival sects of Islam increasingly using Sections 295-B and C of the Pakistan Penal Code against each other.
While minority groups continue to face action under this legacy of the Zia-ul-Haq regime, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in its report released on Monday cites numerous cases of Muslims being booked under the blasphemy laws.
In fact, a majority of the 41 complaints registered by the police in 2009 involved Muslims. According to HRCP secretary-general I. A. Rehman, the blasphemy laws had come full circle as rival sects have begun to use these provisions to settle scores with each other. While this has become an interesting statistic for civil rights groups to use in their ongoing fight for the repeal of the blasphemy laws, the HRCP report states that 2009 saw an increase in violent attacks on minorities as the government failed to take effective preventive measures. “As the Pakistan Army and para-military forces conducted military operations against the Taliban networks in Swat andother tribal areas including South Waziristan, the militants struck with vengeance in other parts of the country at non-Muslim minorities as well as the Muslim minority Shia sect.''
All minority groups faced ultimatums to convert to Islam with theCommission coming across instances of the Taliban threatening Hindus to either pay Jazia (a medieval period tax on minorities) or accept Islam to save themselves from abduction and murder. Referring to a specific incident in the Kohat district of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), Mr. Rehman said non-state actors became so powerful that they managed to collect Jazia and still some Hindu families had to flee the area.
Referring to another incident which took place in Battagram in the Hazara district of the NWFP, Mr. Rehman said the term Jazia was heard in these parts for the first time since the days of Mughal ruler Aurangzeb. Home to 15 Hindu families — living there for generations — the elder of the community was asked to cough up Rs. 6 million by militants and the Taliban.
And, the Commission fears that there could be more such cases which go unreported; particularly from the “no-go areas'' in the tribal belt that is caught in the crossfire between extremist groups and security forces in a “xenophobic atmosphere created and promoted by conservative clerics and a section of the media''.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/25/stories/2010032565632000.htm
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Karzai for more Chinese support
Ananth Krishnan
BEIJING: Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday called on China to increase its economic support towards his country's rebuilding efforts, in meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao. The two countries on Wednesday signed three documents on economic and technological co-operation, more favourable tariffs for Afghan exports and training programmes. But seeking greater Chinese investment in Afghanistan's development and regional security issues were top of the agenda during Mr. Karzai's talks with Mr. Hu, said officials.
China has begun to emerge as an increasingly important player in Afghanistan, giving the country substantial financial assistance and also helping in rebuilding its infrastructure. Since 2002, China has given more than $200 million in financial assistance. China is also looking to increase its investment in the country's mineral deposits.
In 2007, the State-owned China Metallurgical Group signed a record $3-billion deal to develop a copper mine at Aynak. Security issues are another focus of this week's talks. Chinese officials have expressed increasing concern over the safety of their investments, which have slowed in recent months. China is also worried about unrest spreading from Afghanistan into its borders. Afghanistan shares a border with China's restive Muslim-majority Xinjiang region.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/25/stories/2010032565642000.htm
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Jihad only way to liberate Kashmir, says Lashkar and Jaish
Anita Joshua
ISLAMABAD: Pronouncing jihad as the only way to liberate Kashmir from “Indian occupation,” the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), along with several other Kashmiri militant organisations, on Tuesday warned Pakistan of a greater tragedy than its 1971 dismemberment if the government lulled itself into considering India and the U.S. as friends.
A declaration, rejecting India-Pakistan talks and calling for jihad instead, was adopted by leaders of these organisations at the ‘Defence of Pakistan Conference,' organised in Kotli — a district along the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK). Among those party to the declaration were Hizb-ul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin and LeT commander Abdul Wahid Kashmiri.
Full report at: http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/25/stories/2010032563571000.htm
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Hamas welcomes British move
Atul Aneja
DUBAI: The Palestinian group Hamas has welcomed Britain's decision to expel an Israeli diplomat over 12 fake British passports that were used in January by the assassins of senior Hamas commander Mahmoud-al-Mabhough in Dubai.
On Tuesday, Hamas leader Salah Bardawil said the British decision marked a significant development. “We hope that this level of development will continue, particularly in bringing Israeli leaders who committed crimes against the Palestinian people to court.”
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband had told the House of Commons on Tuesday that there were “compelling reasons” suggesting that Israel was behind the misuse of the British passports.
“Such misuse of British passports is intolerable ... It also represents a profound disregard for the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.” He had asked “a member of the Embassy of Israel be withdrawn from the UK as a result of this affair and this is taking place”. The British Foreign Office also issued a travel advisory to its citizens heading for Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Full report at: http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/25/stories/2010032565622000.htm
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Militants' worst foe may be Somalians on street
Jeffrey Gettleman
For the past three years, the Shabab, one of Africa's most fearsome militant Islamist groups, have been terrorising the Somali public, chopping off hands, stoning people to death and banning TV, music and even bras in their quest to turn Somalia into a seventh-century-style Islamic state.
At the same time, they have drawn increasingly close to the al-Qaeda, deploying suicide bombers, attracting jihadists from around the world and prompting American concerns that they may be spreading into Kenya, Yemen and beyond.
But could Somalia finally be reaching a tipping point against the Shabab?
Not only is Somalia's transitional government gearing up for a major offensive against the Shabab — with the American military providing intelligence and logistical support — but Full report at: http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/25/stories/2010032563991300.htm
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Israel confirms more Jerusalem buildings
25 March 2010
Jerusalem ,March 24: Undeterred by turbulence in its ties with the United States and Britain, Israel on Wednesday confirmed further plans to expand the Jewish presence in occupied East Jerusalem, with more building freshly approved.
In a move sure to anger Palestinians and frustrate Western proponents of a freeze on settlement construction, a city official said approval was given to develop a flashpoint neighbourhood from which Palestinians were evicted last year.
Word of the move came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu completed an unusually low-profile meeting in Washington with US President Barack Obama for fence-mending talks, after their open spat over East Jerusalem earlier this month.
Mr Netanyahu says he regretted the bad timing of an announcement of East Jerusalem building plans during the visit of US vice-president Joe Biden two weeks ago, which Washington called “insulting”.
Full report at: http://www.asianage.com/index.php?option=cominternational&Itemid=61
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Terror groups to step up war against India
24 MARCH 2010
ISLAMABAD, March 24: Pakistan-based terror groups, including the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, have vowed to step up their “jihad” to liberate Kashmir from India and asked Islamabad to adopt a concrete strategy for this purpose.
The militant leaders pledged to strengthen their armed struggle and wage a jihad to “free” Jammu and Kashmir during a rally held on Tuesday in Kotli, a town in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Among the dozen speakers who addressed the gathering were top LeT commander Abdul Wahid Kashmiri and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, who also heads the United Jihad Council, an umbrella organisation of all the militant groups active in Kashmir.
Leaders of the Jamaat-ud Dawa, declared a front for the LeT by the UN Security Council, also attended the rally. Kashmiri said the LeT will continue supporting the Kashmiri people “until they achieve freedom from India”.
Full report at: http://www.asianage.com/index.php?option=36:international&Itemid=61
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Hakimullah may be alive, says Malik
24 MARCH 2010
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik on Wednesday said that he is not sure of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Hakimullah Mehsud’s death.
“He can still be alive. I cannot confirm the death of Hakimullah Mehsud,” he told reporters here.
Mr Malik said that he had neither confirmed TTP chief’s death earlier, nor he had seen his body or DNA record. “I only knew through intelligence reports that he is dead. I am not sure about it. I can’t say 100% that he is dead,” he added.
The interior minister further said, “I cannot confirm Mehsud’s death, but if he is alive then he must come on TV.”
Hakimullah Mehsud had succeeded Baitullah Mehsud, who ruled the TTP movement from 2007 until he was killed in a US drone attack. Initially studying at a madrasa (Islamic seminary), Hakimullah Mehsud left his education early to take up arms with the Taliban.
He was appointed a spokesman for the extremists in 2004, before being promoted in 2008 to the post of TTP commander of Orakzai, Khyber and Kurram districts, part of Pakistan’s lawless tribal zone bordering Afghanistan. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Pakistan minister of state for information Syed Sumsam Ali Shah Bukhari said that Islam and Pakistan had no link with terrorism.
http://www.asianage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6694:hakimullah-may-be-alive-says-malik&catid=36:international&Itemid=61
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Pak forces kill 23 militants in tribal area
24 MARCH 2010
Parachinar (Pakistan), March 24: Pakistani security forces backed by jets pounded militant hideouts near the Afghan border on Wednesday, killing 23 suspected Islamist insurgents, a government official said.
Security forces used ground forces and fighter jets during operations in the Orakzai tribal region on Wednesday and cleared out three militant strongholds, said local government official Rasheed Khan. One soldier was wounded, he said. The region is very remote making it difficult to independently verify rep-orted casualties.
The Asian Age, New Delhi
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Hasina ‘poison’ row: Opp MP sues ex-Prez
25 March 2010
Dhaka, March 24: A right-leaning stalwart of main Opposition BNP on Wednesday filed a case accusing the former President, the interim government chief and Army Chief of attempting to kill incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina while she was in jail.
Court officials said MP Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury filed the case in the court of chief metropolitan magistrate alleging that former President Iajuddin Ahmed, chief adviser of the past caretaker government and the then Army Chief Moeen U. Ahmed tried to kill Ms Hasina by “slow poisoning”.
http://www.asianage.com/index.php?option= 36:international&Itemid=61
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Canada passes law regarding Muslim veil
The province of Quebec passed landmark legislation Wednesday that stipulates Muslim women will need to uncover their faces when dealing with Quebec government services.
The bill says people obtaining or delivering services at places such as health or auto insurance offices will need to do so with their faces in plain view. The law covers all garments ranging from the face veil to the burqa, a traditional head-to-toe veil worn by some Muslim women.
It says people's face-coverings will not be tolerated if they hinder communication or visual identification.
Premier Jean Charest told a news conference that the province was drawing a line in defense of gender equality and secular public institutions.
"This is a symbol of affirmation and respect - first of all, for ourselves, and also for those to whom we open our arms," Charest told a news conference.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/canadapasseslawregardingmuslimveil/595537/
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Pak continues to support some terror groups: US official
25 March 2010
Even though Pakistan has taken strong military steps against terrorists in the past one year, it has continued to support some groups that operate in Afghanistan, a top US intelligence official has said.
"Islamabad has demonstrated determination and persistence in combating militants it perceives dangerous to Pakistan's interests, but it also has provided some support to other Pakistan-based groups that operate in Afghanistan," Mathew Burrows, Counsellor and Director of the Analysis and Production Staff at the National Intelligence Council, told foreign journalists in Washington.
"US and coalition success against the insurgency in Afghanistan could provide new long-term incentives for Pakistan to take steps against Afghan-focused militants".
"Increased Pakistani cooperation is more likely, if Pakistan is persuaded that the US is committed to stabilising Afghanistan and capable of doing so," he said at a news briefing held at the Foreign Press Centre.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pakcontinuestosupportsometerrorgroupsusofficial/595475/
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UK expels Israeli envoy over Dubai case
25 March 2010
Britain has taken the extraordinary step of expelling an Israeli diplomat for the first time in more than 20 years, after concluding there was compelling evidence that Israel was responsible for the use of forged British passports in the plot to slay a senior Hamas operative in Dubai.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Tuesday that trust between the two countries had been badly dented, demanded formal assurances it never happen again and — in an unusual step — issued travel advice to U.K. citizens warning their identity details may be at risk if they visit Israel.
Full report at: http://www.dailypioneer.com/244338/UK-expels-Israeli-envoy-over-Dubai-case.html
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No U-turn by US on access to Headley: Chidambaram
25 March 2010
Home Minister P Chidambaram has said that he does not think there has been a “turn around” by the US on the issue of Indian investigators getting direct access to Pakistani-American LeT operative David Headley. “No, I don’t think so,” he shot back when asked whether there was a turn around by the US after its envoy in New Delhi Timothy J Roemer said that “no decision on direct access for India to David Headley has been made.”
“... If you reflect more carefully that sentence (of Roemer) no way (it) contradicts what the US Attorney General (Eric Holder) has told me,” Chidambaram, who is here on an official visit, told a TV news channel.
“It is my understanding that India would be able to obtain access to Headley to question him in a properly-constituted judicial proceeding. Such judicial proceeding could be pre-trial or during an inquiry or trial,” the Home Minister had said in a statement on Saturday after a telephonic talk with Holder.
Full report at: http://www.dailypioneer.com/244332/No-U-turn-by-US-on-access-to-Headley-Chidambaram.html
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Britain ropes in Pak paper to fight terror
25 March 2010
LONDON: The British Home Office has decided to use the UK edition of Pakistani paper, Daily Jang, to disseminate counter-terrorism messages to the Pakistanis in Britain.
The move is aimed at negating what British intelligence agencies call the “poisonous information fed to the community’’ by extremist blogs. The Jang group publishes an Urdu as well an English daily, The News, in the UK.
The Home Office on Tuesday also shortlisted 20 extremist political bloggers. The purpose of the Home Office’s probe was to devise methods so that the British government’s counter-terrorism communications reached UK-based Muslims who didn’t read or watch mainstream British media.
The top five extremist sites are said to be: Ali Eteraz, Islam in Europe, Angry Arab News Service, Indigo Jo Blogs/Blogistan and Daily Terror.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/Britain-ropes-in-Pak-paper-to-fight-terror-/articleshow/5720317.cms
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Locals pelt, slash Afghan suicide bomber to death
25 March 2010
A suicide bomber wearing a vest laden with explosives was killed by locals Thursday in eastern Afghanistan before he was able to detonate, police said.
The incident occurred in the Muqur district of Afghanistan's Ghazni province, according to Kheyal Mohammad Sherzai, a police chief in the province.
The suicide attacker was from Pakistan's Warizistan area, authorities said.
The people who intervened in the incident pelted the man with stones and slashed him with knives and were able to kill the man and give the suicide vest to police.
– Journalist Matiullah Mati contributed to this report.
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/25/locals-pelt-slash-suicide-bomber-to-death-in-afghanistan/?hpt=T2
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On TV, veiled woman spews verse at clerics
25 March 2010
DUBAI: It was a startling voice of protest at a startling venue. Covered head-to-toe in black, a Saudi woman lashed out at hard-line Muslim clerics' harsh religious edicts in verse on live TV at a popular Arabic version of "American Idol.''
Well, not quite "American Idol'': Contestants compete not in singing but in traditional Arabic poetry. Over the past episodes, poets sitting on an elaborate stage before a live audience have recited odes to the beauty of Bedouin life and the glories of their rulers or mourning the gap between rich and poor.
Then last week, Hissa Hilal, only her eyes visible through her black veil, delivered a blistering poem against Muslim preachers "who sit in the position of power'' but are "frightening'' people with their fatwas, or religious edicts, and "preying like a wolf'' on those seeking peace.
Full report at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/On-TV-veiled-woman-spews-verse-at-clerics/articleshow/5717430.cms
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Migrant workers exploited and abused in Malaysia: Amnesty
By JULIA ZAPPEI|AP
Mar 25, 2010
KUALA LUMPUR: Migrant workers are lured to Malaysia by promises of high salaries but often end up being exploited and abused, Amnesty International said in a report Wednesday that urged the government to better protect foreign laborers.
The report lists some incidents of sexual abuse, but most problems were related to unpaid salaries and harsh working conditions that the human rights group said were “close to bonded labor.” “Migrant workers come to Malaysia to escape poverty and to provide for their families. Once they arrive, however, many workers toil in conditions that amount to labor exploitation,” the report by the London-based group said.
Malaysia depends heavily on foreign laborers, who make up more than a fifth of the country's work force and fill jobs at construction sites, factories, restaurants, households and palm oil plantations that are shunned by Malaysians.
But lower-than-promised wages, unsafe working conditions, and arbitrary arrests and extortion are common, the rights group said.
Full report at: Arab news
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Minimum age for marriage urged
By FATIMA SIDIYA | ARAB NEWS
Mar 25, 2010
JEDDAH: A sheikh has urged the government to implement a minimum age for marriage.
Shiekh Abdul Muhsin Al-Obaikan wants to avoid cases of very young girls getting married to men many years their senior.
The sheikh has also pledged his support for the “No to Minor Marriages” campaign run by Arab News’ sister publication, Sayidaty magazine.
Al-Obaikan said that forcing a young girl to marry nullifies the marriage because it does not fulfill one of the major rules of Islamic marriage — the agreement of the girl.
The campaign has already received support from princesses, human rights activists, Shoura Council members, lawyers and the Ministry of Social Affairs.
The magazine’s desk manager in Jeddah, Muna Siraj, said the campaign is different from others organized on the Internet.
Full report at: http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article34317.ece
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113 terror suspects arrested in Kingdom
By P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR
Mar 25, 2010
JEDDAH: Saudi security forces have arrested 113 Al-Qaeda militants who were planning to carry out terrorist attacks on a number of targets inside the Kingdom including oil installations, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki said his forces had broken up three cells of Al-Qaeda militants, with one cell consisting of 101 people, and two smaller cells made up of six men each.
“The large cell comprised 47 Saudis and 51 Yemenis, as well as a Somali, a Bangladeshi and an Eritrean,” he said.
The two smaller groups were made up of 11 Saudis and a Yemeni. He said Al-Qaeda planned to carry out new terrorist attacks inside the Kingdom in October, targeting economic facilities and security officers while Saudi military and security forces were busy confronting Yemeni infiltrators in the south of the country.
Full report at: http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article34385.ece
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Israel approves more housing in East Jerusalem
25 March 2010
Jerusalem (CNN) -- In a move likely to further strain relations between the United States and Israel, the municipality of Jerusalem has given final approval for a controversial Israeli housing project in the heart of a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem.
Approval of the project paves the way for construction of 20 apartments being developed by American millionaire Irving Moskowitz on land that he purchased in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Moskowitz, an avid supporter of Jewish building in East Jerusalem, purchased the land in 1985.
To make way for the new housing units the historic Shepherd Hotel which was built in the 1930s by a prominent Palestinian family would be torn down.
The Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem has become an area highly coveted by Jewish nationalists wishing to cement Jewish claims to the land, and it has become a fault line in the public debate about Israeli building in Arab areas of East Jerusalem. Every week hundreds of Palestinians, Israelis, and international activists stage protests in the neighborhood to protest Israeli government building policies.
Full report at: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/03/24/israel.settlements/index.html
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Afghan-Iranian mountain trails reveal hidden weapons smuggling route
By Nima Elbagir,
(CNN) -- At the Eslam Ghalah crossing on the Afghan-Iranian border, millions of dollars have been spent by the international community to try to ensure that all goods and human traffic entering and leaving Afghanistan can be controlled and accounted for.
But we found a very different reality.
We had traveled from the city of Herat in out to Afghanistan's western border to film a story on the smuggling of weaponry to the Taliban from Iran - we wanted to get a sense of how much was being done to block the smuggling trails along the Iranian border -- an area of remote mountain trails and passes.
The local security commissioner had insisted we take a police escort. Once we had finished filming at the official crossing I asked the commander of the detail if he knew where the main smuggling trail across the border was as I'd heard it was just outside of Eslam Ghalagh.
Full report at: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/03/23/iran.afghanistan.weapons.taliban/index.html
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Women in Yemen rally in support of a child bride law
25 March 2010
Hundreds of women have rallied outside Yemen's parliament to show support for a law banning child marriages.
The law being proposed would set a minimum age for girls to be married at 17 and 18 for boys.
But some conservative Muslims are against the law being passed. The rally comes days after thousands of women protested against it.
The government proposed the law after the marriage of an eight-year-old girl to a 30-year-old man was annulled.
The girl, Nujood Mohammed Ali, was outside the parliament in Sanaa among the women at the rally.
She was quoted by news agency Agence France Presse saying she was protesting in the hope that the law would go through without any changes.
Full report at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8583585.stm
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U.S. Muslims Denounce Human Rights Violations in Bangladesh
25 March 2010
Washington DC. - The American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT), a coalition of major Muslim American organizations, held a news conference March 22 at the National Press Club in Washington D.C., to call for an end to human rights violations in Bangladesh.
At the news conference, U.S. Muslim leaders expressed grave concern over widespread human right violations, extra-judicial killings, suppression of political opposition, and wrongful accusation and persecution of Islamic leaders for so-called "war crimes".
A number of concerned Bangladeshis and Bangladeshi-Americans, including Mr. Sheikh Muhammed Belal, Deputy Chief of Mission of Bangladesh Embassy in Washington D.C., were among the audience.
American Muslim leaders called for respect for human rights, an end to extra-judicial arrests and killings, stopping government abuse of the police, judiciary and administration to subdue the opposition, restoring the rule of law, and immediate release of all those who have been unlawfully detained.
Previously, the AMT has similarly opposed violation of human rights in the United States, Pakistan, India, and Egypt.
Full report at: SOURCE American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections
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Bin Laden's daughter released from Iran, in Syria
25 March 2010
BEIRUT: Osama Bin Laden's teenage daughter has left Iran after living under house arrest there since her family fled Afghanistan in 2001, her family said Tuesday.
Iman Bin Laden, 18, arrived in Syria last week to live with her mother, according to the girl's brother, Omar, and his wife, Zaina Alsabah.
“She is fine now, she is really healthy,” Alsabah, 54, told The Associated Press by telephone from Britain. She said the girl had been at the Saudi embassy in Tehran for months after she ran away from her Iranian guards.
Many of Bin Laden's children escaped to Iran after the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan. Several siblings lived in a walled compound under Iranian guard after authorities picked them up for entering the country illegally.
“They had traveled on Sudanese passports,” Alsabah said.
“Their names had been altered by the Sudanese government so it was impossible for them to be identified.
Full report at: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article33998.ece
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